Volleyball Welcomes Kansas

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team will host the No. 24-ranked Kansas Jayhawks in a midweek Big 12 matchup on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m., at the WVU Coliseum.

“We need to serve tough, play at a competitive level for long periods of time and take care of things on our side of the net,” coach Jill Kramer says. “We don’t need anybody to jump out and have a stellar performance. We need everyone on our team to be steady and consistent. Taking care of fundamentals and making positive plays on the ball is what we are going for.”

The Mountaineers (8-9, 0-4 Big 12) are coming off their first Big 12 road trip where the team dropped matches to first-time opponent, the then-No. 15 ranked Kansas State (0-3) and Oklahoma (1-3). Freshman outside hitter Nikki Attea led all hitters with 17 kills and 2.43 kills per set in the matches, while freshman libero Anna Panagiotakopoulos led the defensive end of the ball with 30 digs including a match-high 18 against the Sooners.

Freshman setter Brittany Sample recorded her ninth, and league leading, double-double of the season against the Sooners with 34 assists and 12 digs. The Lewisville, Texas native currently leads the team with 622 assists and is ranked No. 7 in the Big 12 in assists per set with 9.72.

The No. 24-ranked Jayhawks (14-2, 2-0 Big 12) are appearing in the AVCA National poll for the first time this season and recently received a program-best No.9 RPI projection. Led by Preseason All-Big 12 team selection Caroline Jarmoc, Kansas currently leads the conference in attack percentage (.395) and kills per set (14.48).

Jarmoc and Taylor Tolefee are the only players ranked in the top 10 in both hitting percentage and blocks per set in the Big 12. Jarmoc is also ranked nationally in the top 30 in three categories- blocks per set (17th-1.45), hitting percentage (27th-0.395) and points per set (30th-4.79).

“Kansas is doing some good stuff right now,” Kramer says. “They just jumped into the top 25, are 2-0 in conference play and they do some different things offensively that we haven’t seen before. They pass the ball pretty well to be able to do the things they are doing and they have a middle, Carolina Jarmoc, who is really good. She is going to get her kills, but we need to key in on her and try and slow her down.”

Wednesday’s match will be the third time the teams have met, with Kansas holding a 2-0 record over the Mountaineers in the series. The last meeting between the teams came in 2000 in Lawrence, Kan., with the Jayhawks winning the match 3-1.

Fans unable to attend tomorrow’s match can follow the Mountaineers via GameTracker and a free WebStream presented by Kroger at WVUsports.com.